70mm Fox Grandeur - 1929-1930

Criterion
Theatre
This downtown theatre may have run "Movietone Follies of 1929" in the
70mm Fox Grandeur process. The film opened May 24, 1929. Or was it just in 35mm? It's unknown.

Carthay CircleThe page on this theatre offers photos of the booth and the special Simplex projectors installed for the seven week run of "Happy Days," which opened February 28, 1930.

Grauman's
Chinese
The Chinese was equipped with the special 70mm
projectors to run "The Big Trail," an 8 week run
beginning October 2, 1930.

The Chinese also ran "Song o' My Heart," which opened April 19, 1930. It was filmed in both 35mm as well as 70mm Grandeur but the consensus is that that the 70mm version was never exhibited and the Chinese run was 35mm.

A new 3 strip Cinerama production: "In The Picture"
It premiered in September, 2012 at the "Cinerama at 60" festival at the Dome. It was the first footage shot in the 3 strip process in over 50 years.
On YouTube: "Cinerama
2012" | "Cinerama 2012 Part 2"

Transition to Widescreen

Cinemascope - 1953

Grauman's ChineseThe Chinese got the premiere of "The Robe," the first Cinemascope feature. For years it advertised itself as "The Home of Cinemascope in Hollywood." See the main Chinese page for a discussion of the process.

The street view timeline page offers some nice views of the elaborate signage for Cinemascope features, illustrating how it changed from picture to picture.

VistaVision - 1954

Warner
Bros. Beverly HillsOne of the few theatres in the country
to actually get an installation of the horizontal Century projectors
with an 8 perforation per frame "pull across" for Paramount's "high
fidelity" process. See the page for a discussion.

70mm TODD-AO - 1955

Egyptian TheatreThe Egyptian was the first Los Angeles Theatre equipped for the process. It got the premiere engagement of "Oklahoma" in 1955. The page discusses the process, with several illustration.

United ArtistsEquipped in 1955 to add a second theatre to the run of "Oklahoma."

Carthay
CircleRan the second film in the process, "Around The World in 80 Days," in 1956.

From Script To DVD"70mm in Los Angeles"The section has detailed information about 70mm runs and 70mm equipped theatres.

This
site does a great job tracking foreign films, indie releases and classics appearing at awide range of venues around town. Check theircalendar and
plan your week. They also have a freee-mail newsletter you can sign up for. Also check out
the links
page.

We've tried to give appropriate credit. The links
near the images will direct you to a full size version on the
website hosting it. Please contact
us if there are incorrect attributions or links that no
longer work. All images are subject to copyright. Contact the
webmaster of the site in question concerning reproduction or other
use.

Grauman's Chinese

Cinespia

A season of classics every summer outdoors in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. And now the organization is doing indoor screenings as well -- including films at the Los Angeles Theatre and other downtown venues.| calendar | tickets |

Hollywood History

A 30s look at the Grauman's Chinese chandelierfrom the Tom B'hend and Preston Kaufmann Collection, a part of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Margaret Herrick Library Digital Collection. full size view

An amazing collection of photos and lore about early Hollywood. Many of the Images are from Mr. Wanamaker's Bison Archives. Here we're looking at a 1923 view of the corner of Hollywood Blvd. and Cahuenga.On Google Books: larger view

From Script To DVDThis site has nice pages on
all of the L.A. Theatres that
were (are) equipped for 70mm.

The photo here is on the site's Egyptian Theatre page. It's of the booth equipment at the Egyptian in1969 from the Motion Picture Herald.

A nice look east on Hollywood Blvd. in 1924. The Hollywood Theatre
is on the right. We're running "Why Men Leave Home" with Lewis
Stone. The view is right on the front cover of this fine book.
On Google Books: larger
view

More photos and lore about Hollywood. Most of the images are from
Mr. Wanamaker's Bison Archives.
Here we're looking west at Melrose and Van Ness in 1941. On the left
is the Melvan Theatre, later the Continental.
On Google Books: larger
view

"Hollywood:
The First 100 Years" If you can find a copy, check out
Bruce Torrence's book, published by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce in 1979.

Bruce is the
grandson of legendary Hollywood
developer C.E. Toberman, who built
the El Capitan, Egyptian and Chinese theatres, along with many other landmark buildings.

The book has many rare photos from
Bruce's collection.These and
many more are available for viewing and purchase at www.hollywood
photographs.com

Have you seen this? I
had a rare chance to view it about five years ago
at a museum screening and have been looking forward it to watching
again ever
since. Nope, it's not on Netflix.

Well, Thom Anderson's
great exploration of Los Angeles and
how it's been portrayed in the movies is now on YouTube.The
film is broken down into twelve 15 minute segments. Check it
out: Los Angeles Plays Itself -- Part 1.

Take
Martin's
tour down Hollywood
Boulevard for lots of
terrific photos. His Hollywood home page will give you a graphic
layout of all the buildings on the
most interesting section of the
street. Clicking on the name of any building will get you a
photo.